What Is Lux In CCTV Camera?
What is lux in CCTV? Lux is”LUMENS PER SQUARE METER” that Comes under the international system of unit(SI), it is the intensity of light that is falling on the light object. To understand the thing in a more clear way I would like to introduce the word lumens, lumens is the total light output of the source and lux is total light falling on an object mean illumination of the subject.
Now comes to the point it means if the camera comes with lower lux it performs well concerning the camera which has more lux. Image Comparison of Normal and lower lux Camera. At every box of the camera, it is written on the backside like 0.1 LUX, 0.2 LUX, 0.5 LUX etc.
If you using your camera in a dark place o in areas where is not too much light so you must understand the minimal illumination, so let an example of minimal illumination or LUX.
Suppose you have one light of source is placed 1 meter away from your CCTV camera then the amount of light that entering the cctv camera sensor is counts to one LUX (1 LUX).
Another example is the one-fourth light of the MOON light is calculated to be 0.1 LUX and the full Moonlight is calculated to 0.2 to 1.0 LUX, Sunny day summer count 100,000 LUX and Sunny Day Winter is counted 10,000 LUX.
It shows the intensity of the light a low light camera, dark fighter camera, IR camera such all depends upon the LUX value of the camera.
Factor That’s Affecting The Minimal Illumination
Signal level (IRE) IRE means when you measure the light that reaches the camera the minimal illumination you need to acknowledge is IRE. This is the level of the light that comes to the camera. The higher value of IRE is good like 30 to 50.
F-Number is also a factor that affects the minimal illumination, you may know about the F-Number if you don’t know you can check our other Article by clicking on it above. The better F Number for minimal illumination is 1.0 or 0.95 and 1.2 you can check the camera demonstration book.
There is one Shutter speed that affects the minimal illumination it is very significant if you are using the value of 1/60 fps or 1/30 fps, 1/60 is very good in my opinion for the frozen image.
The last one is “GAIN CONTROL” you can boost your signal in your camera if the gain is OFF or ON.
So the better combination of all the above factors is signal 50 IRE, F-Number 1.2, Shutter Speed 1/60, and Gain “ON”.
So the minimal illumination that is better for this condition is 0.05 LUX.
Normal Camera Image Low lux Camera Image.
So if you required a good quality camera apart from TVL and MP Rating, Lux is very important. If you have a lower light condition then a low lux camera plays a very important role. Sometimes when you install a camera in the opposite direction of light in that case light affect issue rises, you get the dark image. Under such conditions either you change the location of the camera or you need a camera that has lower lux.
Branding
There are the different brand available in CCTV market but each brand has different lux specification so if you have such condition mean the light condition is not proper then select those brand which has lower lux specification.
Apart from lux IR- LED also play an important role. If you need good quality night vision then apart from lux you need to have more IR led. There is different kind of IR LED available in the market, 24 LEDs, 36 Led, 84 LEDs, Array LED and smart IR LED.
So Camera with lower lux and four arrays led is the best option but you need to keep one thing in mind that array led consumed more power. So for this combination, you need to give separate power by an adapter, you may use a 12v 2 Amp Adapter or 12v 3 Amp.
What Is Lux In CCTV Camera?
Apart from this one more camera type that will remove your problem is the colour night vision camera, this camera automatically produces light when the light condition is not proper or dark.
It produces light that has lumens. Apart from night vision, this camera has lower lux, so it will give good results in day vision also. One more advantage of this camera is that if you install this camera on the outside area then it produced light that is more than normal light.
This camera has IP 66 Rating Also. As mentioned above regarding power consumption, this camera will not consume as much as an array led camera.
This will take a normal 12v 1 Amp. Suppose you set up your camera at a place and there is light about 0.1 LUX and the camera is also supporting 0.1 LUX then your camera will produce the best image quality, otherwise, if the light is below the 01 LUX then your camera will work as a night vision, the IR LEDs will turn ON of the camera.
Other cameras work under the 0.1 LUX like the ECHO camera which work on 0.01 LUX 0.02 LUX and so on such camera can better perform in very low lights.
Another solution for low light is a starlight Camera, Nowadays a Starlight camera comes on the market, this camera is very useful and handy for such conditions. It is the camera that has very very low lux and also setting of this camera cut filter is maintained in such a way that it does not go in night mode in good light condition as compared to a normal night vision camera.
As mentioned in the above two paragraphs, this camera has very low power consumption. It will take 12 v 0.5 Amp. As this camera is new in the market, camera cost is slightly higher than above cameras.
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